Brooklyn Coronavirus Briefing: At Least 6 Confirmed Cases, Things Are Starting To Shut Down

There are now at least six confirmed cases in Brooklyn, Borough President Eric Adams’ Office confirmed this morning. As of this afternoon, 16 new cases have been confirmed in NYC, bringing total to 36, we are trying to get Brooklyn breakdown of the new cases and will update.

Yesterday, March 9, the Mayor provided information on two of the reported cases – an elderly man and a young man. We also reported that a nursing home worker in Southern Brooklyn who lives in New Jersey, tested positive, and this morning there are reports of an FDNY EMS worker in Brooklyn testing positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear if they live in the city. Here’s the mayor’s summary at a press conference yesterday:

• Case number 14 – we have a 68-year-old man in Brooklyn, had symptoms, ended up being admitted to the hospital. He has traveled, so we’re not sure 100 percent of the origin here, but most notably, and we’re very concerned about this, has both diabetes and heart disease, so this is someone we’re very concerned about. Critical condition, but stable in ICU in a private hospital in Brooklyn. We’ve tracked close contacts. A girlfriend who has symptoms and is being tested is in mandatory quarantine, a son also in mandatory quarantine. We have three other family members in voluntary isolation who do not live with the patient. That’s that group as far as we know right now. And again, as these detectives do their work, oftentimes we get to a very finite number of contacts. Sometimes we find a few additional, but typically it’s only been a few additional.
• Case number 15 is a 22-year-old man in Brooklyn, had symptoms, ended up being transported by EMS to a private hospital in Brooklyn. Stable but remains hospitalized. Had some recent travel, but again, not to one of the places where – these last two cases both had travel but not to one of the nations where we have had the bigger outbreaks. Why is a 22-year-old man stable but hospitalized at this point? The one factor we know of is he has a vaper. So, we don’t know of any pre-existing conditions, but we do think the fact that he is a vaper is affecting this situation. Two close contacts, lives with his mom and sister who are both quarantined.

Mayor updated previously on:

• Cases nine and ten — two women who went on a cruise to Egypt. So here’s travel now coming back as a factor. Two women from Brooklyn, they are 66 and 71 years old. No preexisting conditions. Returned to New York City, February 20, so that’s now over two weeks ago, they were symptomatic. They did the right thing. They immediately isolated themselves at home. They are now asymptomatic and still at home. No close contacts who require follow-up. Those are cases again, nine and ten.
• Case 11 — 39-year-old man from Brooklyn who was in the affected area of Italy, came back March 2nd. Symptoms manifested March 3rd, in serious condition in a voluntary or private hospital in Manhattan. Does have preexisting conditions. Serious condition now as I said. One close contact, business associate tested negative and is an isolation.

The most recent case is an FDNY Brooklyn EMS worker, per City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, whose twitter account is a pretty good source of information.

Today’s news is that reality is beginning to set in that we’re in for a long couple of months,  and institutions are starting to respond:

• Vice has closed its Brooklyn office after a staffer may have been exposed to the virus.
• Brooklyn Law School has canceled events and is planning to conduct classes remotely, and moot court participants are bummed.
• Brooklyn College is open, but professors have the option of holding classes online and is telling students to verify their logins, just in case.
• The National Magazine Awards have postponed their planned Thursday gala at Brooklyn Steel in Williamsburg.
• Brooklyn Friends, a private school, is closing for two weeks out of “an abundance of caution.”
• And CUNY students are increasingly frustrated that as private schools close, they’re still being asked to go to class.
• Saint Ann’s will be closed to students on Wednesday, March 11 and Thursday, March 12 for professional development days and will be closed on Friday, March 13 as planned for Founder’s Day.
• Packer remains open.
• Brooklyn Friends School has closed out of an abundance of caution:

In other news:

• Advocates are raising the alarm about unsanitary conditions at prisons and jails, including the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, where they reportedly don’t even have soap in dispensers.
• Despite an inflammatory New York Post story, cops say there’s no evidence a Sunset Park stabbing had anything to do with either bias or coronavirus.

And even the twitter jokes are getting darker:

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